Israeli Technology Umbrella: "irresponsible cure" complaint against cancer hurts our reputation



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The umbrella organization for Israel's high-tech and life-science industries has been described as irresponsible and damaging to a team of Israeli researchers that it has developed a concept that would pave the way for cure for cancer.

The sheer amount of advertising that followed for an apparent breakthrough that, as established by the Times of Israel, has not been published for peer review in medical journals, and that foreign experts have judged to be false, harms Israel's reputation in the field of life sciences, said the Israeli coordinating group.

"We welcome all companies that are developing advanced technologies," Karin Mayer Rubinstein, CEO of Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IITA), told The Times of Israel on Thursday. But, she warned, "the researchers' comments undermined the image of Israel's life sciences sector." IITA is the umbrella organization representing Israeli high-tech and life science companies, venture capital firms, multinationals operating in Israel, incubators and technology companies. arms transfer from Israeli universities.

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"It's a very irresponsible statement, and many people around the world have asked to clarify the subject," she said. "If we understand, some critical steps in their research have yet to be taken. Such statements are likely to harm Israel's life sciences sector, which is one of the most serious and professional in the world. "

"Israel's life sciences industry is made up mostly of very serious individuals with a wealth of experience. We expect them to behave more responsibly, especially before making this kind of statement, "said Mayer Rubinstein. She said "Israeli leaders in the life sciences sector have asked her to clarify our position on this issue."

The researchers of the start-up Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd. (AEBi), whose startup is based in Nes Ziona, presented their claims about cancer treatment at the Jerusalem Post earlier this week. The company's CEO repeated these claims in an interview Wednesday at the Times of Israel, while acknowledging that his research had not been published in reputable medical journals because, he said, the company could not allow yourself to do it.

CEO and founder of Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd. (AEBI) Ilan Morad, on the right, with Hanan Itzhaki, the scientific manager, in their laboratory (Courtesy)

The Times of Israel has contacted many hospitals and experts in Israel to try to badess the claims of a spectacular breakthrough, but they declined to comment, with some noting that they had no direct information on research. Other experts abroad, however, have issued crude warnings about researchers' statements, calling them unreliable.

Dr. Ben Neel, director of the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health, told the New York Post that "cancer is a multiple disease and that it is very unlikely that this company has found a" cure "for cancer, no more than one. to cure infections. He said that "more likely, this statement is yet another in a long line of false, fallacious, irresponsible and ultimately cruel false promises for cancer patients. "

Ilan Morad, CEO and founder of AEBi, told The Times of Israel Thursday that the reaction of critics who have not seen the results of the company is "comparable to criticizing a book without reading it".

He reiterated that the company could start treating patients in clinical trials that he hoped to start "fairly quickly" and said, "We are not saying that the drug will be approved in a year. Our technology is innovative and we have applied for a patent on it. This application is in an advanced stage and until now, patent attorneys have ruled our technology innovative. "

"We are working on a comprehensive cure for cancer," Morad said in an interview published Wednesday by the Times of Israel, echoing the company's claims in the Jerusalem Post earlier this week. "We still have a long way to go, but we believe that we will have a cure for all types of cancer patients and with very few side effects," he said.

Morad told the Times of Israel that the company had not published its research in medical journals, contrary to the norm, because it "can not afford" to do so, but that the results of its preclinical trials have been "very good". . "

"We are a small business," he said. "Publishing an article requires a lot of effort and a lot of money, and we can not afford it. He added, "If we were a big company with a lot of money, that would be the first thing to do.If I have $ 100,000, what do I spend it on?" he asked. "Advancing research and finding more and more targeting peptides, or doing many experiments to write an article? What would you do if you had to choose?

In the conventional development process, medical researchers who make a discovery collect their papers and submit them to legitimate medical journal articles, in the hope that the editorial boards of journals validate their findings and publish these findings. The greater the prestige of the publication, the greater the apparent value of the discovery. Researchers do not have to pay for legitimate medical journals to publish their results.

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